


Take a Left-Turn at Normal

by monsterkiss



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: OT3, Other, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-18
Updated: 2013-08-18
Packaged: 2017-12-23 20:51:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/930965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monsterkiss/pseuds/monsterkiss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rise Kujikawa has long since given up on caring what other people say. When you save the world from a vengeful god, you can date whoever you want.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take a Left-Turn at Normal

The idol lifestyle had some benefits, definitely. Like learning how to smile and look confident when your insides are churning like crazy. “I’d like to go out with you. Like, as your girlfriend.”

“Uh, Rise-chan, that’s very flattering but you see, we are both already, ah, _otherwise engaged_ , with each other, and-”

“I know, I know. I mean that I want to go out with _both_ of you.”

She could still picture Kanji’s jaw literally dropping, and Naoto’s face freezing up as if some internal machinery had just completely jammed. She wasn’t sure how she’d ever managed to salvage that trainwreck with a tentative “maybe?” Blame that winning idol smile.

They’d already spent time with each other at school, but outside of that their interactions had tended to be based around the Team. Going out for food or into town together took some getting used to, and more than once Rise saw them exchange looks with each other, _this isn’t going to work._

But she kept the conversations rolling when Naoto’s awkward silence threatened to overwhelm them. When Kanji started look a little lost and confused she’d ask him if he was making anything, or if he’d seen anything good on the T.V. yesterday, soothing ‘normal’ questions. Neither of them took compliments all that well, but she let them know as gently as possible that she thought they were both hotter than Yukiko’s triple-x death curries. The first time she had one hand in Kanji’s only slightly-damp grip and the other clutched a little too firmly in Naoto’s, she felt… happy. A bright and elated happiness she hadn’t realised she’d been missing.

It was still hard, sometimes. Kanji had a tendency towards flightiness even when it was just the two of them, and when Naoto was around it evolved into a fully-fledged constant low-level panic. Sometimes when the three of them went out together someone would stare just a little too long and he’d spring up from the table as if suddenly bitten or charge ahead on the path like a stubborn child who won’t be seen walking with his mother. She tried to deflate it with jokes and what she had come to think of as her “idol face”, but it did hurt, just a bit. And when Kanji did run, when it was just her and Naoto, things tended to get complicated.

Naoto had taken her to one side early on, once it had become clear that this “maybe?” had become something less temporary. She’d been a girl that day. With a steady tone, as if reciting from a script, she’d explained that some days gender was a little… fluid, that she might be a woman for a day or a week or just a few hours, then a man, and so on. That sometimes neither of those labels seemed to fit. If Rise wanted to continue this arrangement (the little hitch in her voice at that word did strange things to Rise’s chest) then she would have to be patient, to use the right pronouns and respect Naoto’s (a brief chuckle that sounded almost pained) true self. Naoto looked across at her with a clear, almost empty gaze, and Rise found her self wondering if Naoto had a “detective face”.

She wasn’t sure what she expected. Maybe that one day Naoto would wake up is his binder and hat and the next she would wear make-up and skirts, but in retrospect that was quite childish. Naoto was Naoto whatever gender they identified as, always dressed smartly and never frivolous enough for something as _silly_ as mascara. The hat seemed to be pretty non-negotiable and even on days when Naoto timidly announced “I think I would prefer to be a girl today” her chest was still wrapped tightly under her school jacket.

But Rise was determined to be a good girlfriend. She studied the little cues, the way Naoto spoke a little firmer on his boy days, the lack of cologne when she felt like a girl. There didn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to the differences, but Kanji could pick up on Naoto’s current gender seemingly immediately, from the moment they showed up at the school gate, and she couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. She couldn’t really get mad at him, not when he smiled nervously when presenting her with his latest stitched creation or blushed bright red when he leaned down awkwardly to kiss both of them on the walk home. But in spite of their mutual arrangement it was hard not to feel extraneous sometimes, to worry that one day Kanji would decide he’d rather just be with his first big crush and Naoto would want to settle down with someone who didn’t need to ask who they were that day. It was hard enough when their respective families asked increasingly concerned questions about which of their very close friends they were actually dating.

It was worse at school, where despite the three of them cultivating a considerable combined aura of fear, respect and admiration people still talked. They talked about whether Kanji Tatsumi liked boys or girls, whether Risette was a greedy skank or just cheating, whether Detective Shirogane was “really” a boy or not. The last two seemed to get to Kanji more than the rumours surrounding him, and Rise was increasingly worried that one day he’d start punching and just not stop. Naoto of course advised firmly against it, and in the interests of keeping him out of trouble Rise agreed vocally. “We’re not saying it wouldn’t be _right_ , Kanji-kun, or even that they don’t deserve it, or even that it wouldn’t be kinda _fun_ , but-” and at that point Naoto tended to shoot her a look, thank you Rise, but they’d continue this particular chastisement solo, if you don’t mind. When Naoto left she stretched out on Kanji’s lap and they talked about how cool it would be if they just called up their personas next time they saw some of those rude kids around, not to actually do anything to them, of course not, just to scare ‘em a little, maybe drop a ziodyne or two to make sure they got their point across.

She guessed that the gossip was how their remaining senpais found out, certainly none of them had any plans to tell them just yet. You could save the world together and walk through the physical embodiment of each others’ repressed selves, but some conversations were still kinda awkward to begin.

Yosuke had been easy enough to divert. “Hey, and speaking of rumours, there’s one going ‘round right now that you and Kanji-kun and Naoto-kun are all dating each other, talk about weird right?” with a miserable attempt at a poker face.

“Yeah Yosuke-senpai, you know the kind of silly stuff they talk about. Last year there was a pretty big rumour that you and our leader were dating, so you know how close to the truth this gossip usually is!” She wasn’t really sure whether he’d picked up on the subtext or not, but he hadn’t brought it up since, which was something of a relief.

Yukiko and Chie were more difficult. Partly because, as with everything important, they approached the issue as a single unit, and partly because they went with the most potent and horrifying weapon the seniors could bring against them: they tried to _understand._

“It must be soooo difficult, Rise-chan!” Chie sighed, closely examining a piece of beef speared on the end of her chopstick. “Trying to balance school and friends and still keep up with all this cool celebrity stuff. I mean, I couldn’t do it.”

“Oh yeah, Chie can’t sing _at all._ ”

“Yukiko! That is not what I meant. My point- our point, is that things are really complicated when you’re a teenager, especially with, uh, you know, ‘relationships’ and stuff…”

Yukiko nodded. “But you can always talk to us if anything bothers you. We are your senpais, after all!”

Rise hadn’t noticed that “why don’t you have lunch with us on the roof, for old times’ sake?” had been a trap until it was far too late, and now with her totally understanding and not at all barely older than her friends between her and the only escape route, the drop to the ground over the fence was looking increasingly doable.

“Yeah, I mean we’ve totally been there. The stress, the peer pressure-”

“Having all your darkest secrets broadcast on television-”

“And sometimes there’s just so much stuff about love and dating floating around that it just gets a little confusing, you know?”

Rise considered this. “There does seem to be an awful lot of confusion going around right now, Chie-senpai.”

“Exactly! So, whatever’s going on between you and, um,”

“Kanji-kun and, eh, or, Naoto-kun?” Yukiko let the question mark dangle a while, until it became clear that Rise was just going to delicately pick at her rice and stare expectantly. “Well, I guess we’re just trying to tell you that we get how things can get a little… _complicated_ when you’re such good friends.”

Rise wondered if Yukiko actually thought the nod and wink in Chie’s direction was at all subtle. Chie seemed to be thinking the same thing, because she blushed redder than her complicated friend’s sweater and immediately dragged her off. Rise decided that the rice was just too soggy to eat and moved onto desert, texting Souji. Yosuke would be sure to inform their leader of his discoveries at the first opportunity, which was why she’d taken Naoto’s advice and told him two weeks previously. He’d responded with his usual brand of quiet understanding and a picture of three cats hugging.

Later the three of them could cram themselves into Kanji’s poky bedroom, half-forgotten homework and sewing samples strewn over the bed. As he closed the door behind them Rise had spotted Kanji surreptitiously nudging something lacy and flower-print behind a dresser and was mercilessly prodding him over it. “What are you working on, Kanji? Is it a present? Is it for _me_?” His red-faced sputtering was adorable and, to Naoto’s evident frustration, far more interesting than math homework.

His tetchy tutting eventually succeeded in wrangling them into some kind of compliance, and they managed to sit in studious silence for almost half an hour before Naoto himself punctuated the calm by gently draping an arm around Kanji’s waist.

He sprang off the bed immediately. “D-don’t Naoto! She might hear something!” He gestured wildly in the direction of his Mother’s shop room. His look of panic set Rise into more helpless giggling, and all of Naoto’s attempts to explain the unlikelihood of Mrs Tatsumi hearing an illicit hug from another room were met with utter denial. “You don’t know her, man, she can hear you buying sweets with your lunch money from all the way across town!”

“You can hug _me_ , Naoto,” Rise said, shuffling along the bed to rest her head on his shoulder. She could feel the heat of his blush against her cheek, but he slipped his arm around her anyway, fingers resting warm against her hip. She smiled. “And you can be as loud as you want!” Which set Kanji into another mini-fit of hysterics, until they both managed to pull him into a gangly three-way embrace, a jumbled pile of teenage affection.


End file.
